kiss me goodnight
by BittersweetSonata
Summary: We're a tragedy just waiting to happen;— sasuke ო sakura, ten times they met by chance, and one they didn't.


**title: **Kiss Me Goodnight

**summary: **We're a tragedy just waiting to happen. / Ten times Sakura and Sasuke met by chance, and one time they didn't.

**pairing: **Sasuke&Sakura

**notes: **Everyone is suffering from my post-angst after reading Shingeki no Kyojin chapter fifty. Sorry not sorry.

**disclaimer: **I own nothing.

* * *

_._

_I wanna be there when you fall_

.

* * *

They first meet on a street corner.

Sakura has just lost her best friend in a crowd and is trying to relocate her when she bumps into him.

He is taller than her, with a black bedhead and beautiful dark, _dark _eyes. He is pale, well-built, and dressed in a black leather jacket – your typical back-alley bad boy. But there is something about him, with his sharp jaw and high but perfect cheekbones, and the way he does-not-but-almost-does smile when she starts to apologize profusely and launches into a mile-long ramble.

He is mysterious and dangerous and she just can't help but want to know him better.

"Um, have you seen a blond girl about this height?" she questions, holding her hand up to measure off Ino's height.

The dark and mysterious stranger shrugs. "There's a lot of blond girls out there. You'll have to be more specific."

Sakura narrows her pretty jade eyes. "Goes by the name Ino but also responds to 'pig.' Usually wears purple, pines after a guy named Shikamaru, should be wearing black pumps, high and long blond ponytail."

"She went that way." he points back over his shoulder with his thumb.

A smile makes its way to her face. "Thanks, we're supposed to be shopping for a gift for one of our friends and his birthday is tomorrow, so yeah. Thanks."

He gives a passive wave, and she turns to resume her quest to find Ino and a present for Naruto.

After she almost reaches the next street, she turns back to see him still watching her, hands shoved into his jacket pockets. She smiles and waves. He nods in her direction before heading off and disappearing into the crowd.

* * *

The second time they meet, it's when she's just broken the heel of one of her black stilettos.

She is sitting on the stairs of some stranger's apartment with a sprained ankle and no means of transportation because, how are you supposed to hail a cab when you're temporarily disabled? You can't.

Sakura groans and almost throws her broken and _useless _shoe at the brick wall when it starts to rain. She curses her horrible, terrible, bad luck and sighs at the cliché-ness of it all. And that's when he shows up.

"What are you doing out here?"

Her head snaps up and she's about to give this insolent stranger _a piece of her mind_, when she notices that it's him.

"Oh. You."

He raises a perfect brow. "You didn't answer my question."

Sakura throws her hands up in the air in a 'screw the whole world' sort of manner. "Because my life sucks. That is why."

He seems almost amused. "Come on, I'll get you a cab."

She takes his hand and starts to get up, only to falter and fall back onto the brick step. "I can't. I can't walk because one of my killer stilettos' heels broke and I twisted my ankle, so, you know, that sucks because I am now a disabled person until it heals."

This time, he cracks a smile. It is very, _very _small, but she catches it.

Too bad she's in such a pessimistic mood.

He leans over and drapes one of her arms over his shoulders, allowing her to feel how incredibly toned he is. Okay, maybe her day is just a little bit better now.

"And you know what sucks the most?" she questions as she picks up her useless pair of heels and he helps her down the steps. "I paid like, four hundred dollars for these shoes. I am a doctor, I have money, but this is just a waste. I should burn them. Yes. I'll set them on fire and that'll be the end of it."

The handsome stranger beside her snorts, and she turns to him in shock as he slips his black leather jacket over her shoulders.

He calls her a cab and they wait there for it to come, standing on a street corner at night and in the rain.

"How'd you manage to break such an expensive pair of shoes?"

Sakura sighs dramatically. "Well, that is a good question, isn't it? I was running away."

"From?"

She slumps a bit at this. "My date. He was boring and snobbish and I dislike people like that so…I just kind of, slipped out the bathroom window of the fancy restaurant we were at and started to run. You know, so he didn't find me. Not that I'd care, but…I kind of wanted to see what it felt like to be James Bond for a little bit." she blushes and looks away. "I probably sound stupid."

"A little." he admits, and she smiles and starts to laugh.

"Wait until Ino hears about this. She's the one who set me up in the first place. She'll faint when I tell her I broke a four hundred dollar pair of stilettos. She'll completely flip out and it will be the funniest thing I've seen all year – maybe all my life."

He stares at her, and she realizes she's been rambling. "So um, yeah."

Her cab pulls up, and he helps her inside.

When he is about to shut the door, she reaches out and grasps his wrist. "Wait – I just, thanks. You know, for this. Really."

He shrugs. She speculates.

"What's your name?"

He blinks. "Sasuke."

There's a pause before he asks, "And yours?"

"Sakura."

He wears a half-smirk as he begins to close the door. "Goodnight, Sakura."

* * *

The third time, it's when she's spilled five coffees all over a passing stranger.

"Why you –!"

She begins to apologize, over and over again as she picks up the fallen cups from Starbucks. "I'm sorry, so sorry, I didn't see you and –," she looks up and the man is absolutely _livid. _

"I should make you pay for all this! You just ruined a five hundred dollar suit!" he screeches at her, attracting the rapid attention of every passerby.

Sakura is mortified. "I – I'm really sorry. Honestly, I didn't see you. I never –,"

He kicks the coffee cup she was reaching for away, and she stares up in dread and embarrassment; he smiles evilly at the tears forming in her eyes. Public humiliation was what she deserved, in his thoughts.

"Is there a problem here?"

Sakura turns at the sound of the familiar voice. The tone is much colder than she remembers, but her eyes light up when she sees him standing there.

"Sasuke!"

Her tormentor freezes, as does everyone else. Sakura looks between the two in confusion, although part of her feels justified when the man breaks into a cold sweat.

Sasuke lowers himself to her level and looks her in the eyes. "Sakura, what's wrong?"

She feels the eyes of her persecutor burning into her back. "Oh. I um, I just tripped and spilled all this coffee." she laughs, although it is empty. "Clumsy me! I was on a coffee run for the doctors who just got out of surgery because they've been working so hard and I tripped and bumped into this man. It was totally my fault, I promise."

Sasuke's eyes turn slowly to the man cowering behind her. "Why didn't you help her?" he motions to the four empty cups in Sakura's hands.

The man shakes in his shoes. "She was – I didn't – I didn't know –,"

Sakura's brows crease. "It's okay!" she puts a hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "He was going to, and then you showed up!"

He doesn't look like he believes her, but the man makes his getaway and Sakura feels some of the tension leave. Any spectators of the little drama disperse rather quickly and it is just the two of them.

Sasuke picks up the lone Starbucks cup and sighs.

Sakura beams at him. "You always show up when I'm in distress! How do you do that?"

He rolls his eyes. "It's a good thing you don't get into trouble very often."

She sticks her tongue out at him. He sighs again.

And they make another quick run to Starbucks.

* * *

The fourth time they meet, it's at a funeral.

Sakura is standing over the coffin and looking down at the dead body inside and there's something tugging her heart.

"You knew him?"

The question startles her, and she looks up to see Sasuke there, dressed in a three piece black suit. She blinks, then her gaze returns to the coffin and the body inside.

"No. But he was being hospitalized where I work so I talked with him a few times. It's sad really, he was so young." she looks back up at him. "How did you know him?"

One corner of Sasuke's mouth turns heavenward. "Old friend."

The candy-haired doctor scoffs and adjusts her black dress. "Yeah right. He was like thirteen. You're at least twenty-one. 'Old friend' my foot."

"Aren't you a ray of sunshine today?" he deadpans, and she fixes him with a look that clearly states she is not amused.

Sakura huffs and crosses her arms. "Yeah well, I've never particularly _liked _funerals, thank you. Why should I look like sunshine when someone is mourning their kid? That's just cruel. I do like the flowers though."

Sasuke shoves his hands in his pockets, and she resists the strong urge to roll her eyes. Instead, she turns back to the young boy lying in the box.

Her jade eyes go soft, like they're melting, and her expression turns into something he can't quite place. She reaches out and touches the smooth wooden surface of the coffin.

"We'll all end up there, someday. For others, that time will come sooner than later. It makes me feel melancholic. We're all just really waiting for death to come along and whisk us away into the unknown – right? Sometimes I wonder why I've survived and yet others haven't. Others like him." she nods at the boy in the coffin, her pretty pink locks fly as she does.

Sasuke scoffs. "That's depressing. How did you ever become a doctor?"

She looks up at him with a smile that doesn't quite reach her eyes, and her jade orbs are full of something strange.

He offers her his arm, and she accepts.

They walk out of the funeral parlor together.

It's sort of like they've become friends.

* * *

The fifth time, it's late at night.

"You always show up at the weirdest times." Sakura comments from her perch on the park bench.

Sasuke grunts.

"I mean, do you like stalk me or something? How did you find me, even?" she snorts, staring up at the millions of stars above them.

He sighs. "It just happened."

She fixes him with a look that makes him roll his eyes. "You were just out for a late-night walk and just chanced upon me, _right._ Like the jury will believe that."

"What?"

She doesn't answer, and instead turns her attention back to outer space.

"I like it out here. I love the stars. I want to be one. They're so pretty and bright, shining up there where nobody can touch them." she whispers, bringing her knees into her chest.

Sasuke notices that she's not at all dressed for the cool autumn night, and that she has ventured out in a white sundress, pink Chuck Taylor high tops, and his jacket.

She is ridiculous.

"You're something." he sighs as he sits beside her.

They stargaze for hours, with her naming off all the constellations she can remember.

* * *

The sixth time they meet, she's engaged.

" – and then he just got down on one knee and proposed!" Sakura finishes telling her tale, complete with hand motions and grand gestures.

Sasuke blinks and glances at the ring on her finger. "That's a big diamond."

She stares at it. "I know."

He senses that something is wrong. But he's not a prying sort of guy. Not when it comes to her, at least. So he just waits for her to tell him on her own.

Sakura takes a bite of her mint-chocolate ice cream and snorts.

The ice cream is a 'gift' from him, of course. Because she's the only woman he knows that eats ice cream in dead winter. And besides, she's just gotten engaged so he figured he should do something for her.

Somewhere, deep inside, he feels something tug at the thought of her getting married.

"What." he questions, in a bored drawl.

She starts to laugh, and her cheeks redden even more. "I just realized something."

Sasuke waits for her to continue, used to her stop and go method of conversing.

"I don't even really like diamonds."

She smiles bitterly down at the engagement ring on her finger. It's a promise – a lifelong one. For better or for worse, in sickness and in health, for bad or for worse. There's a thunderstorm raging in her glass eyes – complete with all the destruction – and there's a sardonic smile on her lips.

That's when he really starts to worry about her.

* * *

The seventh time, he sees her by the river, and he knows.

He's in love.

She looks up at him when he leans against the bridge beside her. Sakura is not surprised to see him, because she knows by now that he just shows up whenever and wherever he wants.

"Hi Sasuke."

"Sakura."

They stay there in silence, which is something normal for him, but for her, it is not. Something is wrong and he can feel it to his very core. It's something dark and deep, and he doesn't like it.

"Will you come to my wedding?"

"Hn."

It's peculiar how this strange girl has one of the most dangerous men in the city wrapped around her little finger and doesn't even realize it.

* * *

The eighth time they meet, he watches her father walk her down the aisle.

And it's something that slowly starts to kill him.

Sakura is dressed like a bride, one of the most beautiful girls he's ever seen. Her dress is long, white, and lacy, and her pretty pink hair is still visible beneath her gauzy veil. She carries a bouquet of light pink roses and lily of the valley, which she later throws behind her to keep the wedding tradition.

She looks beautiful.

It's her wedding day.

But there's something off.

Her smile doesn't reach her eyes, and there's something wrong with her wrist. The gown's long sleeve covers it, but he can tell because of how she favors it.

He sees a blond man sitting across from him at the reception narrow his blue eyes, and Sasuke realizes that he's noticed it too. But no one else seems to, not even her parents or her new husband.

Later, the same blond man walks up and introduces himself as Naruto Uzumaki, and they both trade notes on Sakura and her quirks.

And her injured wrist as well.

* * *

The ninth time, she is crying.

He's seen her cry before – they've been to a few movies together, and sometimes she can just get a little over emotional, but now it's different. She's standing on the bridge again, with honeydew tears streaming down her face.

There's a nasty bruise on her right wrist.

It makes him sick to his stomach.

"Sakura." he greets, leaning against the bridge and sticking his hands in his jacket pockets.

She doesn't turn to him. "I wonder what it's like to fly."

He raises a brow, but his expression is otherwise emotionless. "Go on a trip – take a plane. You'll find out soon enough."

She sighs and stretches out her arms at her sides, and tilts her head back. "No. Not like that." she stares up at the sky and the clouds passing overhead. "I mean _really _fly. Like the birds."

"Cold, I suspect. The atmosphere isn't as warm up there as it is down here."

She snorts. "All logic aside – I think it would be like freedom."

There's a longing in her voice that he doesn't like.

"Until you get caught in a plane engine."

Sakura turns him now, the look on her face asking '_Really, is that so_?' and he suppresses a smile. Snarky Sakura is a good Sakura.

She sighs deeply and rolls her eyes. "Yeah well, _I _wouldn't die by getting chewed up by a giant engine. That'd just be a pathetic way to go." she turns back to the river and the sky and closes her eyes. "I don't ever want to die."

"Well we can't all live forever."

The corners of her mouth turn heavenward into a bittersweet smile.

"In some ways we can."

Sakura slips her wedding ring off, and tosses it as she can. It sinks beneath the surface of the river, down, down, down.

* * *

The tenth time, he kisses her.

She is married and he is just interfering, but it doesn't matter because something has been off with her ever since her engagement, and right now everything just feels so _right. _

Sasuke holds her close and she wraps her arms around his neck. It's perfect and everything it should _not _be because she belongs to someone else. But Sakura doesn't seem to care because she never tried to stop him.

It's raining and they're both soaked to the bone, but it's okay.

When they pull apart, Sakura smiles up at him. It's brilliant and bright, like sunshine on this cloudy day. He's always liked her smile, and he hasn't seen it in forever.

"I've always wanted to kiss in the rain."

She hides her bruises and cuts under her long-sleeved sweater.

* * *

The last time he sees her, she's cold.

"I always knew something was wrong."

Sasuke spares a sideways glance at the blond man beside him. They're both dressed in black, and while black may look good on him, the man beside him looks so terribly out of place.

So does she, he reminds himself.

"Should have known." he mutters.

Naruto nods in agreement.

"She was different."

"Weird." Sasuke corrects, and Naruto cracks a small, bitter smile.

He drops a white lily onto her coffin. "Yeah well, that was Sakura-chan for you."

"Hn."

It's quiet for a long time as they stand there. Other people are milling about the funeral home, but they don't ever leave her side. It's probably half an hour before Naruto speaks again.

"She loved you, you do realize that right?"

Sasuke looks at the blond man who looks ten years older than he really is, then his dark eyes refocus on Sakura.

"I know."

He hates funerals. So did she.

Later, after the gravediggers puts her six feet under in her resting place for eternity, he stands at the foot of her plot. There's a small, sardonic smile on his lips.

"I wonder what it's like to fly."

Naruto looks at him in confusion.

"What?"

"Nothing."

* * *

**end notes: **Basically Sakura gets married to some unnamed guy and he's super abusive and ends up killing her. She's in love with Sasuke though, and yeah. I don't know. This is like, my first time ever writing for this pairing - or any pairing in Naruto - even though they were my first ship. Like, many, many years ago. Characters are probably OOC. Oh well.


End file.
